SCHOTT solutions no. 2/2009 > Glass-ceramic cooktop panels

Photo: SCHOTT

Simply doing more

”Simply more” is the slogan of a rather unconventional B-to-B innovation campaign for SCHOTT Ceran®.

Christine Fuhr

Maintaining close relationships with customers by pro­viding excellent service represents an effective strategy for staying ahead of the competition. Constantly making improvements and launching product innovations are yet
other ways for companies to secure their leads. In this respect, SCHOTT ”simply does a little more” for its customers and has been actively expressing this in its brand positioning for Ceran® glass-ceramic cooktop panels for many years already. However, innovation and tradition are not contradictions, but rather drivers and sources of new ideas at the same time. As a leader in technology and innovation, SCHOTT considers itself a partner to the home appliance industry that offers unique experience in the area of glass-ceramics and a wide variety of product innovations and comprehensive services that extend well
beyond the mere cooktop panel.

In accordance with the slogan ”Never stop inventing”, SCHOTT sets standards by performing better, doing things differently and acting in a more innovative manner to always remain “one step ahead” of the competition. 40 years of experience and 100 million glass-ceramic cooktop panels sold all over the world make this possible. With the B-to-B campaign ”Simply more”, a trilogy that focuses on the innovative areas environment, longevity and design has now been developed. “The new innovation campaign underscores the plans of
the Ceran® brand core and clearly emphasizes the benefits to customers. We want to be unconventional, bold and efficient, but we will also be communicating innovations in a straightforward manner,” explains Stefan-Marc Schmidt, Vice President of Marketing and Sales for SCHOTT Home Tech.

”The ’Simply more’ campaign underscores
our brand positioning.”

Stefan-Marc Schmidt,
Vice President Marketing and Sales SCHOTT Home Tech.

In its new campaign, SCHOTT Ceran® focuses on the innovation areas, environment, design and longevity. Photo: SCHOTT

The key
visual ”Simply greener” with a frog on top of a Ceran® cooktop panel portrays SCHOTT as a pioneer in the area of environ­mental protection. This sensitive animal that reacts quite strongly to environmental influences unites two characteristics of SCHOTT Ceran®: sensitivity with respect to the environment and the products that are developed from it. SCHOTT sets
new standards with ”greener” products like SCHOTT Ceran®, the first and to date only glass-ceramic cooktop panel that
does not contain the toxic heavy metals arsenic and antimony. Customers in the home appliance industry benefit by being
able to make their product “greener” too.

The second key visual focuses on ”Longevity” and is expressed by a turtle and the claim ”Simply lasts longer”. Like
the transparent Ceran Cleartrans® glass-ceramic cooktop
panel with various underside coatings, the turtle exemplifies robustness and a long lifetime. These represent two important characteristics that customers have been associating the well-known black Ceran® glass-ceramic with for many years already.
With ”Simply more unique” and the chameleon as a
symbol for change, the focus is on the black glass-ceramic
Ceran Hightrans® eco. Like the chameleon, SCHOTT Ceran® also offers a wide variety of color options and design latitude at no expense to the environment. For example, it enables new, intelligent displays: after more than 40 years of red displays, SCHOTT has now become the first company to succeed in
transmitting blue light through a black glass-ceramic. ”The ’Simply more’ campaign underscores our brand positioning
and shows where we have clear competitive advantages and
are able to help our customers secure their market position,” Stefan-Marc Schmidt concludes.